Challenge 4

This week students were challenged to create a 2D work that tacked an issue they felt strongly about and shows importance to either the past, present, or future. After brainstorming ideas, students were encouraged to use PBS LearningMedia as a resource to research their ideas and apply the information to help craft the imagery for their work.

An artist I used to help gear students up for this kind of challenge was Maria Fabrizio. She is the author of "Wordless News," a blog where the artist aims to capture a headline everyday in an unique image. Maria spoke at the MAEA fall conference and shared her process and how she gets ideas. I especially like that she creates many of her textures at night and scans them in to create a library of them that she can use when appropriate for her work. I knew when I heard her speak that I would have to use her as an artist of note for my students.

Students really connected to her work and enjoyed going through her posts and trying to guess the headlines.

After only five days of work, here is what students came up with for their answer to the question, "What is your issue?"

Challenge 3 Complete

This Challenge revolved around the idea of "Treasure and/or Trash." Students were encouraged to think about material use and could not use a material they had previously used in other works.

This lead to some new and interesting adaptations of objects and techniques. It was fun to see students struggle through and invent new ways to apply their concepts.

Here are some of the results:

Avery H.: For the elements of design I used line and shape. I used different kinds of lines with the hot glue. I also used shape by have many different shapes put together to make the necklace. For the principals of design I used balance and rhythm. I arranged the pieces of hot glue to balance the necklace. Using repudiation of shapes but changing them slightly created rhythm throughout the necklace. My aesthetic opinion of my art is that I like how the necklace looks in color and shape.

Colton S.: For this challenge, I created the famous line of T206 baseball cards out of felt. I used the element of form to create actual cards. I also used the principal of unity, because all of the cards are the same size and shape, just like the original line of cards. I think the cards are fun to look at and compare to the actual cards. I think they are for the most part very similar looking to the originals.

My T.: In my artwork an element I used was shape. I used shape in my art because of the paper swans I made and the paper stars. All of the origami is hung by a strand of yarn connected to the cone. A principle I had in my artwork was balance. I had balance in my artwork because when I added the paper swans and stars I had to make it balanced and not tilt on only one side. I had to make it even so that it would look nicer. My opinion on my artwork is that I think it looks really calming. There is nothing too crazy about the work it is really plain. The only thing that had a pop of color was the stars and I wanted some color in my artwork so I thought of stars and it worked out really good.

Lauren A.: The artwork I created was inspired by Joseph Cornell, I was inspired by this artwork by using unique objects to create the artwork. The elements and principles of design I used in my work was the rule of thirds and I used a lot of material out of magazines to create my artwork. My artistic aesthetic opinion of this is very good. I think that The was I made the shirt blue made her skin and hair look more natural, and I think that it makes the blue eyes pop.

WIP

As it happens sometimes, not all students finished by the deadline. I did not want to leave them out of this post, so here are some stellar works still being completed for this challenge.

Short Week

This was a short week. I mean, a two-day kind of short week. So, what do we do with that time to make it meaningful and productive? A couple of things. In addition to students working on Challenge 3 works, students also researched and wrote about artists of their choice (focusing on the use of media and what they can learn from viewing the work) and uploaded images from last week's "speed dating" challenge.

Here are some highlights of those completed tasks:

Mixed Media Speed Dating Challenge

Paige S.: While creating this artwork, I learned a lot of new art techniques. This included, adding texture and how to draw things up close. I learned that you can use an ink quill to add details to your art, which I never would have thought could be a art material. Plus, I learned how collaging can also be an art technique. I also learned that it is fine if your art isn't perfect, and it's ok to not have a perfect, planned out, background. Overall, I learned a lot of new techniques and had an enjoyable time creating this work.

Colton S.: During this activity I learned a lot more about different types of media and how to use them. I am very excited to experiment with these materials in new ways for another project.

Brandt. B: I really like this piece I made because of its creativity. I like the material choice I used and how I blended everything together into one picture. I really like the time and value I put into this artwork and the result that came out.

Logan M.: I learned to use many techniques to make art and found out that I should not use the same type of materials all the time.

Braedan H.: This artwork was made with many materials such as gel pens, pastels, paint and a few others. The most used material was a paint, either in sponge form or spray bottle form. My favorite material to use was the gell pen.

Artist of Interest

Our classroom is very fortunate to have access to a lot of resources thanks to grants and donations raised throughout the year. One way I use funding to add resources to my classroom is through the investment of a classroom subscription to Scholastic Art Magazine. I have subscribed to them for years and use them as a way to introduce students to new artists they they get to select from the online archives.

Once a month, students are asked to go into the website and select an artist to write about using a specific rubric. For this round, students were asked to explain how the material the artist uses impacts they way they view it, to explain how they can learn from this artist in their own work, and to use art vocabulary in the process.

Thanksgiving and Giving Thanks

My husband and I at the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, TN.

I am very fortunate for many things I have in my life and the experiences I have been able to have over the years. For Thanksgiving this year, I had the great opportunity to travel to Tennessee and visit Nashville, Chattanooga, and the Smoky Mountains. Along the way, we visited new sites that I was urged to travel to by my fellow Art teachers.

Challenge 3

Students took notes on the artists for this challenge by connecting the work they viewed to themselves, other artworks, and the world.

Students were introduced to a new challenge this week: Treasure and/or Trash. They looked at the work of Joseph Cornell, Claus Oldenburg, and others before coming up with plans for their own piece that looks at objects and how to capture and manipulate them to create art.

After planning works and getting feedback, students spend a good chunk of this week applying ideas into action through their art. The best part of this new challenge is that students may not use media they have used in the past. This has forced many to try new things and get out of their comfort zone.

You can check out some of the process below:

Mixed-Media "Speed Dating"

I recently came across a post from another Art teacher about how she used a fast-paced introduction and application method of 2D media and labeled it "speed dating." I decided to adapt that process for my classroom this week by first having students do an observational drawing of either a piece of string or their shoe, focusing in on it so it fills the page. Later on this week, students then took that drawing and went through a five station rotation, spending five minutes on each material (sharpies/gell pens/stencils, watercolors, pen and ink, oil and chalk pastels, and collage) to complete their composition. Each station had the material speak from their point of view to introduce and invite students to use them. For example, at the collage station, the note said: "Hello, I am collage. Did you know I came from a term that means "to glue" in French? Well, now you do. You need to collage at least two pieces of paper on your work. If you want to be fancy, you can collage over your drawing and continue it over top. Please be kind to the glue sticks. Oh yeah, fun fact: I was discovered by Picasso."

Because this was purely about the experience of both the observational drawing and the application of the variety of media, students felt free to take risks and really attack the picture plane. They will finish up their work by posting it to Artsonia next week. This is a participation piece and my hope is that they will use their experience to make choices in future works.

Here are some images from the process:

Scholastic Count Down

On Wednesday of this week, some of my students and I went up to the High School for our first ever Scholastic Art Awards Critique Session. It was fun to see my students (past and current) share their ideas and get feedback in this forum. We plan to hold two more group sessions like this before our submission deadline of December 15th.

​Finishing Challenge 2

As we start the new marking period, students finished a challenge to explore the question: "Where are you going; where have you been?"

It was fun to see the variety of solutions that looked to use both real and imagined places as well as a wide array of media to explore the ways in which we can convey ideas. I am particularly excited about how many students created pieces of architecture or experimented with media they have not had experience with before.

Check out some of the results below:

Justin W.: For the theme where are you going where have you been, I decided to make a SketchUp of my dream house. My choices of material, which is SketchUp, that I used demonstrates my interoperation of the theme because I thought were I want to live is in this house in the future. My choice of composition that I choose to put the pieces in photoshop together shows my interoperation of my piece of the theme because I wanted it to be seen from all sides, which is what I did here. I am personally connected to this work, because this is the house I want to live when I am older. If I had to relate my art to one artist it would probably be Eugina Loli. We both have things in our artwork that are out of this world, or don't really fit in place. This was fun and I can't wait for the next project.

Abby B.: In my artwork, I created a batik landscape of Ireland, with the house on the cliff supposed to be a house similar to one on my way to church. When creating this piece, I used a piece of silk, and then dyed it with various colors, ranging from brown to green. I believe this shows the theme, as I have been to Ireland, and I have multiple connections to it, as many ancestors of mine were Irish. Additionally, the house in the artwork was one that I see every time I go to church. I felt the house had an older and more traditional look to it, as it was covered with dead plants, and slightly broken in. I combined both memories, and created this piece. I believe this item connects with the artist Faith Ringold, as we both used mixed media to represent something that we feel passionate about. This was my first time using this technique, and I am proud of the results.

Lindsey P.: In my art work, I drew an eye on a map and I did this because I see these things when I go to holland beach and holland state park. This is a map of holland beach because I spend most of my summer there. I made the waves and trees out of maps, I made the eye in black and white to contrast from the colors of the map.

Corrinne W,: For this challenge, I decided to try something new and use the 3D printer in my project and I did definitely learn a lot while designing. The reason I chose a city to design is because I have not been to many big cities other than Chicago and have always loved the lifestyle that the people have there. The one I designed is not any in particular, but it just represents places I have and places I haven't been. Some of the composition I used was setting the figure on a stool with a flashlight pointing towards it and snapping the picture. Then, I also used the rule of thirds when cropping. A personal connection I can make is that I enjoy photography and editing pictures and I also love big cities.

Gibson S.:This bridge I made was made with graphite. I got this texture by spreading the graphite around in the bridge with a paper towel and then erasing some of it to get the added detail. Also I used watercolor in the background to make the bridge really pop out with the dull colors.

Jack C.: In this piece I chose to make a photoshop piece of my head filled with many mountains from the Grand Teton Mountain Range. I chose to use photoshop because the theme is "where are you going and where have you been." I chose photoshop because it is something that I want to get better at in the future and really improve at. I did this because part of the theme is where are you going and I interpreted that as things you want to do in the future, and working on photoshop is one of those things. This piece of work is very meaningful to me because I have been to the Grand Teton's before. It is my most favorite vacation that I have ever taken. This work is similar to George Seurat because they both use small objects or designs to create a bigger more complex picture. One major difference is that I used photoshop for my project and Seurat is a painter. Overall, this is one of the most successful pieces I have ever made

Photoshop Challenge 2

After completing their challenge that asked them to manipulate materials from a variety of sources, the Photoshop Challenge asked them to hone those ideas using digital means.

​Students used their understanding (and some helpful tutorials) to complete the following works.

Ben V.: For this photoshop challenge, I chose to make a graffiti name. I chose to use more of a bubble letter type. I chose this because I feel like the bubble letters are easier to read. Also, I chose this type of letters because the common graffiti looks a little more bubbly. To create my name, I chose more bright and vibrant colors. I chose these colors because they make my name stand out. They are very bright colors on a dark background. Also, I chose bright colors because most graffiti is bright and vibrant. There is no cool graffiti that catches peoples attention, but has dull color. I really enjoyed using photoshop to make this project.

Bella E.: I created this artwork because I did the landscape challenge. I named my artwork, with the help of my friend, Sami Fox, and we decided to dedicate it to our friend, Autumn. I started with a solid brown paintbrush and made a line across the canvas. Then started to get lighter as it went down. Then I made trunks out of a brown brush and then used the leaf tool from the brush and I decided to add leafs for the trees. If you zoom in you can see individual leafs.

Trevor O.: This piece was created in photoshop. I had created the perfectly circular planets by using the marquee tool to create circles of varying sizes. I also use the gradient tool to make shadows on the planets in order to get a sense of distance from the sun. I utilized complimentary colors to make the planets. The large planet is blue and orange, the smaller one was purple and yellow, and the smallest one is red and green. I made the space background dark so that I could emphasis on the planets and their colors.

Bast from the Past

On Friday, Shelby came back to my classroom to observe. She was a student of mine in middle school and then again in high school as a part of the Dual Enrollment program. She is a skilled artist who is now in Art Education courses at Grand Valley State University. She is still deciding on whether or not Education is the route she will go with her career, but it was so nice to get to share some of the "secrets" to my classroom success with a young person I had a hand in shaping into an artist.

One of my favorite moments of the day was when we talked about what it means to teach. I don't always know the impact I have on my students. To have one choose to come back and share with me the impact I had on them was amazing. It lifted me up and helped affirm the decision I made to get into education.

I shared that with Shelby. Teaching is hard. But if you love it, it is so worth it.

Working it Out

The end of the marking period is coming to a close as students work through ideas on a Challenge that asks them to answer the question: Where are you going and where have you been?

It has been interesting to see students use symbols to express ideas and experiences they have had as well as aspirations they have for their futures. I have also enjoyed seeing students adapt materials based on what they have learned from each other and through the various demonstrations shown in class.

This week we introduced batik, scratch art, and using a graphite base layer to complete an image.

Lewis and Clark

On Thursday 8th grade students went outside for the day to experience challenges based on the Lewis and Clark expedition. It was great fun to document the process and create the video below:

Professional Development

On Friday, our district had a half day so teachers could work on various curricular activities. Art teachers had a workshop on using a variety of 2D media, including blendable makers and tempera sticks.

It was fun to learn new things and work with the other Art teachers on the district on initiatives for the school year!

Looking Ahead

This first marking period was pretty terrific! We have a lot of things to be proud of and so many more to look forward to as we approach this next quarter.

​The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards are just around the corner and I am looking forward to having students meet the challenge again and submit works that reflect their ideas and skills before 2016 ends!

New Week, New Challenge

This week students started a new challenge entitled "Where are you going? Where have you been?" In doing so, we started brainstorming why places are important to us - both the places we have been and the ones we would like to visit before planning thumbnail sketches of possible solutions to the challenge.

This week also marked the Annual Michigan Art Education Association Conference and I knew I was going to be gone for Thursday and Friday. I did not want students to get started on their work for this challenge without me being there, so I decided to take a process that another teacher uses in her classroom and breakout a Perspective Drawing Bootcamp Challenge.

I used to teach perspective at the front of my classroom, step-by-step. Instead of doing it that way this year, I used a handful of videos from Circle Line Art School and posted them in various difficulty levels for students to complete on Schoology and submit when completed to Artsonia.

On Wednesday students were given the resources, along with a basic overview of how to give the illusion of space on a 2D surface using a variety of tricks (included color, which was also covered this week through a mixing demonstration/activity). Students were then encouraged to practice in their sketchbooks before applying it to their final paper.

It was great because there were a lot of choices students could select and be self-directed on (I also included some hand outs for students in case the internet was quirky). I love going to conferences because I get a chance to share with other teachers and learn new techniques for making and teaching art. I also love it because it gives me a chance to see what my students can do when I am not in the room.

​Here are some finished examples of the various levels students completed:

Avery H.: I would compare this art to my dot. I have improved from my skills and used more materials. My lines are straighter and there is more detail in my art. Even though the colors in my dot are more elaborate and different but there is more value in my name.

Zach L.: I chose to make my perspective drawing of a birds eye view of New York, because I have always wanted to visit there. I love the tall sky scrapers and people everywhere, so I decided to copy that image down that I had in my head, onto paper. Also, I filled in the white spaces with black, so it would make an illusion of the buildings becoming higher, and popping out from the page.

Damien A.: I used the principles of perspective in my art with the road and the house. My vanishing point is at the end of the road, and I made the porch, roof, windows, and door by connecting the lines to my vanishing point. This connects with some of my other art because in other art I use a lot of shading, and it was no different with this art. you can see the most of it on the back of the pine trees and the house.

MAEA

I will not be able to explain EVERYTHING I learned at the conference, so I will just list some highlights:

Traverse City

The annual conference for Michigan Art Teachers was held in beautiful Traverse City this year. It was also peak color this weekend, which made our stay that much more scenic!

Trying New Techniques and Materials

I learned a bunch of new techniques and used some new products, too. My favorites were learning how to draw with copper point (as demonstrated by Carrie Jeruzal, this year's MI Middle Level TOY) and positive/negative ceramic prints.

Sharing Ideas

I had a great time sharing resources. I presented about STEAM with the STEM teacher at my school, Jamie Dennett. I also presented on my own about mono printing with Gelli Arts.

Finish Works

Students finished up their work for the Biography/Autobiography Challenge and uploaded them to Artsonia this week. It was fun to see the very different outcomes from each student. So many different materials and methods were employed to get the work done. Below are just a few of the works completed this week.

Andrew M.: This piece of artwork represents autobiography because I used a plaster mold of my face and put a clay bowl on the back is my thoughts. I it filled with things I love and cherish dear to my heart.

Leila D.: My artwork, "Vibrant Girl", represents a friend of mine who is always positive and uplifting to be around. I wanted to make a piece that had a combination of bold and bright colors. I also wanted to somehow incorporate collage media into my artwork. I did this by taking parts of magazines and arranging them to look like my friend. After I did that I realized that it needed something more. I then decided to add multiple layers of newspaper, colored paper and magazines to the collage. I think that because I did this, the artwork seems more joyful. I can compare my artwork to Patrick Bremer because he also used collage media. He takes magazines and uses them to create realism and abstraction in a piece. There is also a difference between Patrick Bremer's piece and mine. He uses a grid to create a more realistic piece. I enjoyed making "Vibrant Girl", and hope to continue to learn different ways to make great artwork!

Lindsey P.: My artwork is for the biography unit is a photography piece that I took on my camera. In this I used a longer shutter speed and exposure to slow the picture down and make it look like my hands are moving. Also I turned the contrast up to highlight and darken certain parts of my photo. For example, my freckles stand out more when I turned up the contrast. My work connects to me because I love trying new types of photography. My artwork was inspired by photographers I see on social media and Andy Warhol because he makes his artwork look like it is almost moving also.

Ashley W.: This assignment I used two different block prints. One print was a small print of a car. The other print was a a girl looking down at a tombstone. It has something to do with my life, because when I was very young, three people in my family died in a car crash. The cars show you it was a car crash, and the tombs show that people died in it. This artwork means so much to me! My artwork compares to Andy Warhol, because he did colors that people wouldn't do often to their artwork. While he did bright colors, I did bright red in the background. Then, I did a darker color in the front, to show sadness. I took part of Andy Warhol's idea with bright colors, and mixed it up a bit!

Colton S.: This piece is a biography of Sports legends, singing stars, iconic actors, and etc. These people have inspired me, and many many other people to do the things they do, or love the things they love. This work is most like that of Andy Warhol. This is because it deals with repetitive portraits, that depict celebrities or iconic images.

My T.: In my artwork I took pictures of family members of mine in different spots of their faces. When I was done with it I put it together like a puzzle and made a new face. I have personal connections with this artwork because I took pictures of the people in my family. I think my artwork could compare to Chuck Close because of the square/blocks in the picture because I took the pictures separately. Even though it is a picture instead of a painting or drawing I think my artwork compares most to Chuck Close because of the squares on my artwork.

Topher Z.: I used the idea "steal like an artist" and stole or used the old brick prints to make the random prints. This art reminds me on how creativity is every where and you just need to find it. I did myself and made a wierd back ground that makes me think that creativity is every where.

Carmen D.: I chose to draw an eye with a road bike and landscape in the middle to do with biography. This piece of art is showing the dedication, perseverance, and passion of a cyclist.I would compare my artwork to Andy Warhol because it is a realistic drawing with lots of color.

Damien A.: I made Christopher Columbus's Ship because I think it's cool that even though everyone told columbus that he was going to fall off the edge of the Earth, he sailed his ship forward anyways, and he found America. Because of him, we all live in america today. My artwork kind of connects with Chuck Close because he had dyslexia which was a problem for him, but he found a solution for it and it worked. At first when the paint on the boat started leaking out, I tried to hide it, but instead of that, I found a solution for it and I think it worked pretty well, I put them everywhere.

Abby B.: n the work of art I have presented, I created a piece with drawing pencils and magazine clips of outer space. I was inspired to create this piece, as I originally wanted to create something to do with Cherokee heritage. I always thought that their history was extremely interesting, so when I heard the theme of the project, that's what my mind immediately went to. While looking through my research, I found a group of people called the moon-eyed people. Apparently legend told that these people of Cherokee descent, could see during the day, but could see in the night. I thought this was extremely cool, and I choose that to be the model in my portrait. One artist that I think my artwork is similar to Patrick Bremer, as we both use some sort of college in our artwork, with his the actual portrait and mine the background. One thing different is that I also used drawing pencils, while he just used magazine cutouts.

Photoshop Frenzy

The last two days of the week were a frenzy of Photoshopping as students worked to complete one work (out of five possible challenges). It was fun to see students stretch their learning, even when they had to struggle through some technical issues along the way.

It was fun to see students work together to get their images and work through the challenge of their choice using Photoshop.

Mark Z.: For my Photoshop challenge I created a digital print of me. I used the technique that Andy Warhol used when he made Marylyn Monroe with bright colors that stand out. I used this technique because I liked how the colors complemented each other. Also I liked how the colors stood out more than usual. This describes me to because I love colors that are bright and complement each other’s.

Irieca W.: I chose to do the one with it looking like a cartoon person because i thought it would be fun and cool to do at first i tried it and it was kind of frustrating for me to do. but then when i did it was easy for me to do so next time i might do some thing that will give me a challenge. because this was easy of i might do i for the next project that i have.

Kristina B.: I chose to do a city for my photoshop challenge. I used the principals of design by using unity because this piece shows harmony but also variety because of the different buildings. This photoshop challenge also uses different shape and also color because of the different shapes and color on the buildings in the city.

Trever W.: I used the quick select tool to create my artwork because I used it to get rid of the background of the photos that I used. I used the basketball and baseball in my artwork because I love to play those sports. The bulldog is in there because they are my favorite dog. The hamburger is my favorite food. That is why I choose to do a couple of those things

Alayna A.: In my artwork I used the element of design color by using bright and vibrant colors in my piece. I also used the principle of design pattern by using a square pattern that all have a picture of my face in different colors and locations. This photoshop challenge was fun to create, and the end result was very fun and colorful.

This was a busy week, filled with new works and learning. I am excited to start something new next week (and to present at the MAEA conference in Traverse City)!

#WIP

Andrew created a plaster mask of his face so he could use it to get this clay mold for a piece of pottery.

Watching students works in progress (#WIP) has been very exciting this week. Seeing students finalizing plans and diving into their pieces has brought into focus both their understanding of materials and application of the theme's challenge as they see fit to interpret it.

The theme for this challenge is Biography/Autobiography and students are using a variety of ways to explore the ways in which they can visualize this concept. Some students are being more direct in their tactics, using portraiture and figures in their work. Others are being more exploratory in the process, pointing to objects or artifacts or animals that resonate with theme.

Either way, it has been fun to see them work through the ideas and how far some will push the concept and materials they choose.

#SconeDay16

International Bring a Scone to Art Class Day was alive and well this 2nd Friday in October! Students did all sorts of things to celebrate.

We had students bring in scones they baked or bought. Students also made some Scone Day art and poetry.

Aron really summed up the sentiments of the holiday:

My Work

One of the best parts of my job, and something I made sure to write into my Goals for this year, is being able to also work on my art when my students are working on theirs.

Early in my career, I would have never thought to do this. I would hover over students with a careful and critical eye on every mark they made. Over time, I have realized that my students actually do better when I give them the space to grow and they do better when they see what it means to work with purpose from someone who is authentically making art for themselves.

​Here are a couple of things I got a chance to work on this week:

I did a printmaking demonstration earlier this week. I used an old sketch of a panda for this work. I am thinking about actually printing it on some fabric next week.

I did this modified contour drawing on Morphi, using the iPad we got from DonorsChoose.

Here is the print from Morphi. I think I might make these into some earrings...

Steal Like an Artist

This week has us finally getting into the thick of the first art-making challenge theme: Biography/Autobiography. Students were introduced to five artists who use this concept in their work to document themselves and the people around them before developing their own ideas about how they wanted to interpret the theme for their own work.

Before getting too far along in the planning, I felt it was important to discuss with students how to generate ideas, build off of what already exists, and how to transform concepts that work into something more personal to work for themselves. A great way to do this, was to have a look at Austin Kleon's talk below.

Students were initially surprised that I would advocate stealing anything. But after watching his talk, students discussed what it means to "Steal like an Artist" and how to use that mindset as a key to unlock existing potential solutions in new and unique ways by learning from what has worked in the past in order to make something new. I like the idea of leveraging past solutions to make new ones and it is something I hope to push my students on as we work through this first challenge and the ones that follow.

​A Week of Demos and Planning

Since the switch to a more process-based approach, it has been tough to get new students to understand the importance and patience of going through various demonstrations, idea generating processes, and even playing (which seems like something all kids would want to do automatically) before starting their final works. By the time they have come into my classroom, they are so used to diving into a step-by-step, teacher-driven outcome from all of their classes that they are not quite sure how to handle the freedom associated with choosing their own solutions to a broad theme or idea.

That is why we spend at least one week of each challenge going through demonstrations, using our sketchbooks as a playground to experiment with media, before finally diving into a solution that will reflect the final product. This week was spent doing blind contour portraits, using pencils, markers, watercolor, printmaking, and clay as well as going through thumbnail sketches to find possible solutions for their works.

Here is a peek into some of the work we did and some of the progress students have made so far on this first challenge: